For those of you on the RRS mailing list, I just received their 2005/06 catalog in the mail along with an equipment demo DVD. The RRS owners, Joe and Joan Johnson, host the DVD. Segments include a panorama tutorial and demos of the BH-55 ballhead, flash brackets and other gear.

Michael need not fear for his job as host of the LLVJ , but it was interesting and fun to see the people who sell this high-quality gear expertly demonstrate their own equipment.

For those of you on the RRS mailing list, I just received their 2005/06 catalog in the mail along with an equipment demo DVD. The RRS owners, Joe and Joan Johnson, host the DVD. Segments include a panorama tutorial and demos of the BH-55 ballhead, flash brackets and other gear.

I agree, it was appropriately informative - a shrewd marketing tool. Despite being a wealth of knowledge, the printed catalog is unmotivating. The DVD made me a likely return customer in 2006. Money well-spent on their part.

Yet, it was still a bit dull to watch all the way to the very end segment (BH55).

I liked it, too, although I would also like somebody to explain to me the different options and results for taking panoramas; the guy from RRS seems to do it one way, using a pivot, while other people seem to prefer a slide. Is there a difference? How much difference does it make?

One thing that did get on my nerves were the constant references to the different products by their numbers, rather than by the name...maybe that's some kind of marketing reinforcement? But if your attention drifts for a moment, you find youself wondering just what the JXN749 actually IS, and how it differs from the JXN749a.